The present invention relates to a heat exchanger having an open, tube-like housing and a conduit arranged therein that serves to duct a first heat-transfer fluid and which has an uncoiled length exceeding the length of the housing, which is open at both its front sides to allow a second heat-transfer fluid to flow through it, and to a refrigerating device in which a heat exchanger of said type is employed. A heat exchanger and refrigerating device of said type are known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,592,829.
In said known heat exchanger the conduit is embodied as a coil. The housing surrounding the coil forces the flow of the second heat-transfer fluid so it sweeps along the coil's entire length in order thus to achieve a high heat-exchange efficiency at a moderate throughput rate for the second heat-transfer fluid.
That, though, gives rise to the problem that, with the flow through the heat exchanger being substantially parallel to the coil's longitudinal axis, a considerable portion of the second heat-transfer fluid will pass through the heat exchanger without at all attaining close proximity to the conduit, while other parts of the flow will successively sweep along many turns in the coil and substantially heat up while doing so.